The first hooses biggit in this forested aurie alang the Geleysbeek, a tributary o the Senne, date frae the 7t century. The veelage’s first kirk wis dedicatit tae Dionysius the Areopagite. The legend o Saunt Alena, a young convert tae Christianity murthert bi her faither’s troops for hearin mass at the kirk o Dionysius, an aa allegedly takes place in the 7t century. The chapel an cult o Saunt Alena, housomeivver, date anerlie frae the 12t century. The saunt’s cenotaph, ane o the rare examples o 12t-century sculptur in Belgium, can still be admired in the chapel the day. The contiguous kirk o Saunt Denis (Dionysius) wis rebuilt in the Romanesque style at aroond the same time.

The abbots o Affligem, which haed been the ecclesiastical awners o the parish synce the bishop o Cambrai cedit it tae them in 1105, decidit tae big a priory for weemen in Forest, Forest Abbey. The first abbess o the Forest priory wis named in 1239. An aa in the 13t century, the Romanesque kirk o Saunt Denis wis rebuilt in the newer Gothic style. The neighbourin abbatial kirk wis rebuilt in the 15t century.

Thanks tae its abbey, Forest prospered, especially durin the reigns o Airchdukes Albert an Isabella. On Mairch 26, 1764, housomeivver, a devastatin fire ruined some o the biggins an destroyed mony o its airtwirks. Three decades later, in the years that follaeed the French Revolution, the releegious community wis disbandit, the nuns forced tae flee, an the biggins sauld. The Forest municipality bought the abbey in 1964 an proceedit tae restore it tae its previous glory.